FAO and the Green Climate Fund What Is the Green Climate Fund?

FAO and the Green Climate Fund What is the Green Climate Fund?

The Green Climate Fund is the largest international financing instrument for developing countries to address the challenges

brought by climate change. © FAO

From 2016, the Green Climate The Green Climate Fund Fund helps developing countries represents a unique opportunity enhance their capacity to respond for Latin American and Caribbean to climate change and reduce their countries to access the financial greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks support needed to facilitate the to this mechanism, countries all agricultural sector transition to over the world are implementing low-carbon and climate-adapted large-scale projects. production systems.

Countries can access funding from the Green Climate Fund through accredited agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). To do so, it requires the National Designated Authority, appointed by the government, to prioritise these projects. Why work with FAO?

As the world’s leading specialised agency for food, agriculture and rural development, FAO puts 75 years of experience in this field at the service of countries. FAO is accredited to the Green Fund for projects up to USD 250 million.

FAO has high-quality technical capacities to work on climate-smart agriculture, as well as on issues related to food, livestock, fisheries, forestry and inclusive rural development. These comparative advantages make it a strategic partner in supporting countries to access Green Climate Fund projects.

In the Latin America and Caribbean region, FAO has set up a highly specialized team dedicated exclusively to Green Fund projects. As of December 2019, FAO already manages a portfolio of 25 projects in 20 countries, hoping to mobilize over USD 430 million.

In addition to large-scale projects, countries © FAO can apply to the Green Climate Fund Readiness programme, which provides What should I do if I want to access to resources of up to USD 1 million work with FAO and the Green per year. These funds are used by countries Climate Fund? to strengthen their institutional capacities, It’s simple: contact the FAO governance mechanisms, and strategic National Representation in planning and programming frameworks to your country, and start a joint move forward in a long-term transformative dialogue with the National climate action agenda. Designated Authority. PROEZA in Paraguay:

Paraguay was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean that AOF helped to receive funding from the Green Climate Fund, through the project “Poverty, Reforestation, Energy and Climate Change (PROEZA, by its acronym in Spanish).” The Government of Paraguay received USD 25 million in non-reimbursable funding for this project, with a government co-financing investment of USD 65 million. The project will benefit 17 100 households by providing them with technical and financial support to establish agroforestry systems, sustainable forest plantations, and to manage natural forest regeneration on their land. © FAO Chile: results at sight

Caring for the environment and fighting climate change is not an expense; it is an investment. Chile has made an effort to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and to increase its forest carbon stocks and conservation activities. A USD 63.3 million non-reimbursable payment for results (REDD+) was granted from the Green Climate Fund, recognising this work. The funds received will be used by the country for the restoration, sustainable management and reforestation of more than 25 000 hectares in six regions of the country. The Chilean National Forestry Corporation will carry out these tasks with the support of FAO, benefiting approximately 57 000 rural inhabitants and reducing the social, environmental and economic vulnerability generated by climate change. These interventions are expected to generate a reduction in emissions of 1 147 800 tonnes of CO2eq, contributing to the achievement of 17.9 percent of Chile’s commitments under the Paris Agreement. Improving impact monitoring in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is improving its system for monitoring the impacts of climate change on its agricultural sector thanks to a project funded by the Green Climate

© FAO Fund’s Readiness line. FAO supported the country in the creation of the project, which received USD 260 000 from the Green Fund. The project is collecting and analysing data on agricultural activities and hydro- meteorological statistics for the visualization and evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions. These data are key in establishing the necessary baselines for developing actions to increase the resilience of the agricultural sector to climate change. A new, climate change-resilient agriculture in Cuba

The project “Increased climate resilience of households and rural communities through the rehabilitation of production landscapes” (IRES) received a total of USD 38 million from the Green Climate Fund, with a USD 82 million investment from the Cuban government. The project seeks to enhance the climate resilience of agricultural production and guarantee food security through the implementation of agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, as well as reforestation and forest regeneration systems, improving water infiltration into the soil and preventing soil erosion.

The project will benefit approximately 240 000 people in rural communities, in seven of the municipalities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in the country. Hope for El Salvador’s Dry Corridor

The project “Upscaling climate resilience measures in the dry corridor agroecosystems of El Salvador” (RECLIMA, by its acronym in Spanish) received a total of USD 35.8 million from the Green Climate Fund and an investment of USD 90 million from the Salvadoran government and the Americas Initiative Fund (FIAES, by its initials in Spanish).

This project seeks to restore and reforest degraded ecosystems to protect water sources and stimulate aquifer recharge. By improving access to water and developing local capacity to manage natural resources sustainably, small farmers will be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Maps source: United Nations, 2020 202 0